


Three Hugs for Three

by KalynaAnne



Category: The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Hugs, Post Network Effect
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:21:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26287138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KalynaAnne/pseuds/KalynaAnne
Summary: In which the humans keep asking Three weird questions that protocol doesn't provide an answer for.
Comments: 32
Kudos: 176





	Three Hugs for Three

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheAiCollective](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAiCollective/gifts).



Three watched from a corner as the delegation from the Preservation Station Responder arrived and everything seemed to turn to chaos. There was too much going on and none of it seemed like anything Three would be at all useful for, so it figured it would be best to just stay in the corner, out of the way. As the initial crush settled down and everyone appeared to be settling into a more organized pattern of business, one of Three’s drones picked up on Amena approaching hesitantly. 

Amena stopped a little over a meter away and Three watched through the drone as her face ran through a complicated set of expressions before settling into one that read as friendly but determined. When she spoke she sounded calm and confident. “Three, can I give you a hug?”

Three turned to stare at her as it tried to work out how to respond. This was well outside the realm of protocol. So far outside that Three was half convinced it had misheard her, but it ran back its recording and confirmed that it had heard correctly. Apparently she was going to make a habit of asking the strangest questions. It started a series of queries in all of its data, including the files it had received from the rogue SecUnit. While they ran, Three studied Amena for a moment and concluded that she was patiently waiting for an answer, apparently unconcerned as she examined the wall. This was better than if she had been looking at it expectantly, but didn’t give Three any clues as to how it ought to respond. One of its queries on hugs finally came back with something that might be relevant. 

"I know MedSystem sometimes recommends hugs for humans who need... emotional support. Are... you asking because you need support?"

Amena smiled and looked back at Three. "I'm asking because _you_ seem overwhelmed and like you could use support. But I know SecUnit... er, our SecUnit?...” She frowned briefly. “That's going to get confusing with you here too..” Her expression cleared as she continued, “Anyway, it doesn't like to be touched, so I figured I should ask." When Three’s expression went blank again she returned to studying _Perihelion_ ’s wall.

During this exchange the rest of the queries finished. There were a few additional results about humans in distress and an assortment of results from media about romance, but nothing that addressed how a SecUnit should respond to a human expressing… concern. It would have to navigate this blindly. After 1.2 seconds that felt like an eternity it decided on: "I... don't know. There is no protocol for this. I have never considered this. ....Maybe?"

Amena smiled slightly and reached out slowly to touch Three's arm. "Is this ok?" 

Three stared at Amena's hand on its arm for a few seconds as it examined its sensory inputs. "I... don't dislike it."

Amena broke into a wide grin and Three found itself startled. This was definitely not a standard reaction for a human to have to a SecUnit. It held cautiously still as Amena stepped closer and wrapped her arms around its torso. Three looked down at her, baffled, and awkwardly patted her shoulder twice. 

When Three pulled its arm back away from her shoulder, Amena stepped back and beamed up at it. “I know everything must be super overwhelming right now, but if there’s anything I can do to help, let me know!” She gently patted Three’s shoulder and then turned to weave back into the chaos of the rest of the humans. 

Three watched her go and reached over to rest its own hand on its shoulder. This must be the strangest group of humans. But… the rogue SecUnit might be right. They might be worth trusting. 

* * *

Three had been on the Preservation Station Responder for a little over 10 cycles as they traveled through the wormhole toward Preservation Space. Protocol dictated that it should be travelling in the hold, unless the ship was expecting trouble, in which case it should be patrolling. The humans had made it clear that the first wasn’t an option and that the second was unnecessary. It was following the rogue SecUnit’s advice and had watched over 230 hours of media, but it was antsy and it wanted to be actively doing something. Unfortunately, there weren’t any tasks that it needed to do or even that it ought to do. Other than assuring it that patrolling was unnecessary, the only instructions the humans had given were to “Make yourself comfortable” and to “Let us know if you need anything.” There were theoretically lots of things it could potentially do, but there were too many choices and none of them really seemed right. 

Three resigned itself to watching more media, curled up in the corner of a couch in a small lounge that it had observed seemed to be out of the way of human activity. It was a third of the way through an episode when an alert from the drone it had stationed by the door prompted it to jump up and stand against the wall as Ratthi entered the lounge. Three eyed Ratthi warily, wondering why he had broken his pattern to come here. 

Ratthi held his hands up and said gently, “Hey, you don’t need to get up on my account!” He sat down on the opposite end of the couch from where Three had been sitting. “There’s more than enough space for both of us. And… if you would rather I go find somewhere else to read, let me know?” He pulled up a book through his feed interface and proceeded to sit quietly and read. Three noticed that he was occasionally sneaking glances over at it. 

Three stood awkwardly for about a minute, processing the situation and running through potential ways this could proceed. It was uncertain what Ratthi was hoping to accomplish by reading here, but he did seem fairly certain that he didn’t want Three to leave, and he did invite Three to sit with him, so Three hesitantly sat back down on the couch. It was afraid it was somehow misreading the situation, so it sat stiffly, ready to stand and flee if Ratthi reacted poorly. To Three’s confusion, Ratthi smiled slightly when it sat but continued reading. After another ten excruciating minutes, Three started to relax and then curled back up to finish the episode it had been watching when Ratthi arrived. 

When the episode finished it declined to start the next one. The idea that A) it was allowed and encouraged to sit on the furniture and B) the humans would _choose_ to spend time in the same space with it for no apparent reason was too baffling and distracting for it to concentrate on watching media. It stared at the wall but watched Ratthi through a drone. 

Eventually, Three braced itself and asked, "Why?" 

Ratthi dismissed his book with a flick of his fingers and leaned back to look up at the drone. “Hey friend, I'm more than happy to try to answer questions for you, but that's a big one. Can you give me anything more to work with?" 

Three grimaced internally. Yes. It should have known that query was too broad to produce useful results. It sent an expanded query to Ratthi’s feed: _Why did you and your team invite me to come with you? Why didn’t you send me back to Barish-Estranza? Or just leave me on the planet? What should I be doing? Why do you trust me enough to sit here this close to me? Why did you come in here? Why did SecUnit tag you 'my human friend' in the files it sent me? And why did you just call me friend?_

Three watched as Ratthi’s eyes darted back and forth reading the questions his feed interface projected for him. His brow furrowed in what appeared to be concern and he took a deep breath. Three froze. Had it asked too much? 

Ratthi released the breath and focused on the drone as he spoke. "Right. That's a lot, but we can work through it! And…” He grinned broadly. “SecUnit tagged me as 'my human friend'?! Oh, I'm so glad to hear that! And I can't speak for it, but I like it and care about it as a person and I do my best to respect it, just like I do with my human friends. And I called you friend because I hope that we can be friends as well, though I may be getting a little ahead of myself there. If you don't like it, tell me. I'll stop."

Three spent 1.8 seconds (which felt more like 1.8 hours) trying to process this and to decide how it felt. It eventually responded quietly, “I don't dislike it.”

Three watched as Ratthi’s body tensed and his face did the slightly twisty thing that humans do when they are trying to hide a strong emotion. He was also smiling though, so Three was pretty sure he wasn’t upset.

When Ratthi spoke again, it was apparent that he was trying to force his voice to stay calm. "When my friends are overwhelmed, my instinct is to hug them. I know SecUnit preferred not to be touched, but you are your own person. How do you feel about hugs?"

Three internally groaned. This conversation was so incredibly far outside of the realm of protocol… and this question was just as weird the second time, though at least it did have data to reference now. “...Back on _Perihelion_...Amena gave me a hug. It... was nice? I guess?”

Ratthi nodded. “That’s good to hear! Would you like a hug now?”

Carefully, Three responded, “I...am not opposed to the idea.”

Slowly, Ratthi slid over on the couch twisting around and leaning over to pull Three tightly into his arms, resting his head against its shoulder as he held it. 

After 1.2 seconds, Three wrapped an arm loosely around Ratthi’s shoulder and kept it there for 2.3 seconds. This was...not so different from holding a client during a rescue. And yet, it was nothing like that at all. Ratthi continued to hold Three for an additional 1.7 seconds after Three removed its arm and then continued to sit close to Three as he started to address Three’s other questions.

Three still wasn’t entirely sure how it felt about hugs or why humans seemed to think they were such a big deal. But it was finding that, as confusing as it was, it did like the idea that this group of humans trusted it enough to choose to spend more time than necessary in its presence. And that they cared about it as a person, and not just as a tool. Three was still working on thinking of itself as a person, but it thought that with this group of humans it could get there. 

* * *

Three hung back as the humans all excitedly debarked from the ship when they arrived at Preservation Station. Ratthi had explained that everyone here would treat it as a person, but also warned it that some people weren’t quite sure how to interact with a SecUnit. Three thought that was fair. There weren’t protocols for interacting with a free SecUnit after all, and Three wasn’t sure how to interact with most humans either.

It sent drones ahead so that it could start getting a feel for the station and then followed the humans out slowly. They had been met by several more humans that were now fussing over them. One particularly small human was racing around laughing and hugging everyone. Three stood by the wall, staying out of the way as it observed the reunion. 

Before long the small human started running in Three’s direction. Three suppressed the alert from its threat assessment module - it was fairly certain this child was not actually a threat - and braced itself, unsure what exactly to expect.

The child nearly tripped as they came to a very sudden stop in front of Three and squinted up at it. “Wait...You aren’t SecUnit…” The child cocked their head. “Will _you_ tell me your name?”

Three was not quite sure what to make of the child’s emphasis, but it did at least know how to answer that question. “You can call me Three.”

The child scrunched up their nose. “Three is an odd name, but, okay!” They grinned. “My name is Sami! Can I hug you? Second Mom says I have to ask before I hug new people.”

Three sighed internally, but this child was hugging everyone, so there was at least a pattern to follow this time. “I am not opposed to it.”

The child narrowed their eyes in concentration, “That means yes, right?”

Oh. Right. Human children had limited processing power. “I...yes. You can hug me.”

The child grinned and launched themself at Three, squeezed tightly, and practically bounced back off before Three had quite decided how to react. 

Sami continued to grin up at Three. “So. When SecUnit came back with Second Mom the first time, it shared these awesome vids of its adventures with Second Mom. Do _you_ have any exciting vids to share?”

Three quickly opened the files it had received from the rogue SecUnit, hoping they contained clues about what would be appropriate to share with this human child. It noted the patterns in what the rogue SecUnit had edited out. “Ah...give me a minute. I’ll see if I can find something for you.”

As Three edited footage from the fights to send to Sami it allowed itself to contemplate the idea that, just maybe, it could learn to fit in here. 

**Author's Note:**

> This fic exists because of TheAiCollective, her undying enthusiasm for Three, and her constant encouragement to actually get this into a publishable form. Many thanks to GammaRad and lunaTactics for beta reading and giving very useful feedback! 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it and I welcome comments :D


End file.
